


The Floor is Lava

by arrowsshootyouforwards



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Schoolwide game, the floor is lava
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:42:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrowsshootyouforwards/pseuds/arrowsshootyouforwards
Summary: Fred and George have an idea, inspired by something Hermione told them about her childhood. They, with the help of Professor Lupin, turn it into a school wide competition.Set end of 3rd year
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	The Floor is Lava

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Netflix show and developed IRL with my best friend, I present the Floor is Lava, a school wide Hogwarts Event

“What do you think they’re working on?” Hermione asked Ron and Harry, eyeing up the Weasley twins, huddled together in a corner of the Gryffindor common room, fiercely scribbling away on a piece of parchment. “Their exams finished yesterday, and even Snape doesn’t give homework until the Summer at this point,” she added.

“How should we know?” Ron asked, “you’re the one snogging George, if anyone would know, it’d be you.”

Hermione smacked his arm, “I am not snogging George, honestly, I’m snogging Fred, can you not tell your own brothers apart?”

Harry stifled a laugh behind his hand, if they hadn’t even told Hermione what they were planning, that meant it was something big, that they weren’t sure she’d approve of. The trio had sat their final exam that morning, but some years still had exams to sit the next day before the end of exams feast. After that, there were two and a half weeks before the school term ended which for the last two years had been a peaceful time for the school.

Over in the corner, the twins high-fived and rolled up the scroll of parchment. Stashing it in the pocket of George’s trousers, the twins made a hasty exit from the common room, Fred kissing Hermione’s cheek on the way out, further raising suspicions that they were indeed up to no good.

Fred and George navigated the castle, making their way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and heading up the stairs to Remus Lupin’s office, where their professor was marking the written portions of his Sixth- and Seventh-year exams. Knocking they entered the office as their professor looked up.

“Gentlemen, what can I do for you this evening?” He asked, setting aside the exam he’d just completed marking.

“We have a proposition for you,” George began.

“We think you’d be very interested, Professor _Moony_.” At Fred’s words, Professor Lupin’s eyes snapped to his. “So you are one of them,” he added.

Lupin smiled, standing he moved around his desk to perch on the edge, “Harry did say you two gave him the map, I must say, as a predecessor, I admire the work you’ve done. Now, tell me more.”

The twins shared a look, surprised he took so little convincing. “That was easier than we expected,” George admitted.

“Yeah, we had a speech prepared and everything,” Fred told him.

“I’ll let you into a secret, word got out about my _condition_ , and parents began to complain. To keep the peace, I’ll be resigning and therefore have nothing to lose,” Remus informed them. “So, come on, what’s the plan?” Grinning at one and other, George pulled the plans out of his pocket and they perched either side of Remus to fill him in on their plans.

Later when they returned to the common room, the trio were waiting for them, intent on knowing what they were planning. Fred and George expertly avoided giving anything away, even when Hermione tried to persuade Fred. “Sorry love,” he chuckled, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “The only clue I can give is that you were my inspiration,” he told her, frustrating her more as her brain began turning, trying to work out what he meant.

All was revealed the next evening at the end of exams feast. After the main meal had been eaten, Professor Dumbledore congratulated everyone on the completion of their exams and told them the sad news of Professor Lupin’s resignation. He invited the Professor to speak, and the man stepped up to the Headmaster’s podium. Fred and George discretely fist bumped under the table, out of view as he began speaking.

“Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, it has been wonderful to be back at Hogwarts, even for just one short year. In my own time here, I had many good times with my friends, we were quite the group,” behind him, some of the professors shared amused looks. “In fact,” he smirked, “we were pranksters, I know, many of you probably cannot see it, but our pranks were legendary. And so, in my last weeks, I have teamed up with this generation’s pranksters to bring you a Wizarding twist on a classic Muggle game that will be played school wide.” Professor Lupin pointed his wand to the ceiling and muttered a spell under his breath. Shoots of orange erupted from his wand and spread through the castle, and above him words began to form.

**_The Floor is Lava_ **

Muggle-born and half-blood wizards cheered around the hall, familiar with the game. Hermione locked eyes with Fred across the table who nodded. She remembered telling him about playing the game as a little girl, leaping around her parent’s living room and her bedroom. When she had told him, it led to a Gryffindor wide game in the common room, sans magic of course, to be fair to the first-time players. At the front of the hall, Professor Lupin cleared his throat, “of course, there will be rules. The main rule is don’t fall in the lava. At any given time, a room within Hogwarts can turn its floor to lava. This will be shown by the walls of a room or corridor turning orange indicating 30 seconds before the lava appears. This lava will not burn you, but if you fall into it, you are out and will have the appearance of a ghost for the remainder of the game. Spells to unbalance an opponent are fair game. Within reason, no spells that can cause actual harm may be used. This game is last house standing, or most students standing, should the game still be going by the last day of school. Should that happen remaining pupils will receive 5 points towards their house totals. The last house standing will receive 15 points per surviving pupil. If you don’t wish to play, then that is fine, but you will be missing out on a good time. One last thing, Professors are playing as well, and as I said before, spells to unbalance, are indeed, fair game,” Professor Lupin thanked them for listening and handed the podium back to the Headmaster.

“The game shall begin at midnight tonight,” Dumbledore informed the students. “Good luck to you all. Should anyone not wish to compete, speak to your head of house after the feast, to receive a potion that will excuse you from the game,” with a twinkle in his eye, Dumbledore summoned dessert to their tables and let the feast continue.

On the way back to their common rooms, students speculated what the game would entail, and surprisingly no students opted out of the game. Not even the Slytherins, though some suspected that Professor Snape was not letting them opt out or seem weak to the other students.

In common rooms, many students stayed up late, waiting for the game to begin, to see if anything would immediately turn to Lava. In Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, some muggle-born students had put together a training course, while in Slytherin, Professor Snape had given a mandatory course in unbalancing jinxes and their counter jinxes.

At a minute to midnight, all awake students leapt onto the closest piece of furniture and waited. No room gave indication of turning and after some time, people started climbing down and heading to their dorms. At 12:14, just as most students reached their dorms, all dorms turned orange, sending students vaulting for the closest beds and trunks. 30 seconds later, the floorboards dissolved into a glowing orange liquid as the walls returned to normal. There were screams of delight and giddy as braver students started hopping between beds and trunks.

In the dungeons, rooms were shared differently to other houses. Each year group had a corridor of shared and single dorms for boys and girls. In the boys’ dorms, the lava claimed it’s first victims as Crabbe and Goyle, in their shared room tried navigating from their trunks by the door, across their desks to their beds. Crabbe succumbed first, slipping on the 3ft jump from his trunk, sinking under the surface. He didn’t come back up, making his roommate panic and slip on the desk, which had been soaked as the lava below it bubbled and spat.

They found themselves back in their house common room, frisking their robes to see if anything had happened. They felt fine, it wasn’t until they laid eyes on one and other, that they saw their translucent forms, looking every bit like the ghosts that roamed the castle. Realising they were out and couldn’t even join in by jinxing competitors, they returned to bed, hoping they weren’t the only people to succumb to the lava on the first night.

As it turned out, they weren’t, which they discovered in the morning where they found several other students sitting at the house tables in the Great Hall with ghostly forms. They sighed in relief but could not make eye contact with what they were sure was a highly disappointed Potions Master. To the delight of Fred and George, the Gryffindor table seemed to be the only one untouched, that was however until poor, uncoordinated Neville entered the hall, pale and translucent, and if he had been himself, they were sure the boy would be bright pink from embarrassment.

Lessons continued in a much more relaxed fashion and the only lesson where students were guaranteed safety from the lava was potions, due to the safety hazards of having students leaping onto benches with brewing cauldrons presented. They were not safe, however, in the corridor, which one class of second year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students found. With very little to jump onto, only the ones quick enough to climb the walls and hang onto the wall mounted candles survived that session. McGonagall, some students decided, had an unfair advantage, as no sooner did the walls turn orange in her classroom, she took her Animagus form and leapt from her desk to the top of her chalk board where she sat, staring at her students who shot jinxes at each other to unbalance their opponents. Only one student tried to jinx her, which she dodged by simply dipping her head. The fighting came to a stop as the cat’s piercing eyes glared at the student in question and his desk suddenly formed a hole which he fell through into the lava below.

Professor Flitwick was the first Professor to succumb, during a battle between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw during a charms lesson, a stray jinx knocked over the stack of books he was stood on, sending him toppling into the lava below. No one was sure who had sent the jinx, but the only thing the houses could agree on was it wasn’t their house.

One week into the game and with a few exceptions, it seemed muggle-born students and the quidditch players had the advantages. Muggle-born wizards were mostly familiar with the game and many had played it when they were younger and the quidditch players had the athletic advantages and some could summon their brooms when in a tight spot, which is what Harry did one morning when the Great Hall turned to lava and every single student began scrambling onto the long tables and sending jinxes at each other. Other quidditch players followed his lead, taking the battle to the air as well as the surfaces. When the lava disappeared Professor Dumbledore, no longer in the game himself, brought all brooms back to the floor and sent them away.

Ron didn’t make it past the first week either, he had gotten cocky and tried showing off to the girls in the common room by making an impossible jump, falling short and sinking under the lava before them. Harry was caught out the next day in the dungeons after helping Hermione reach a safe height before himself. It was to Harry’s relief that Malfoy hadn’t outlasted him, or he would have never heard the end of it in the coming year.

As the second week continued, more casualties were claimed by the lava and at mealtimes it was revealed that Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were both doing exceptionally well, with Slytherin doing the worst. This however only seemed to motivate the remaining players. Cedric Digory was a good player, having spent his youth climbing trees on his family’s property, he was skilled at getting off the floor and quickly onto trickier surfaces and always quick to help those in his house. Luna was also a good player, that seemed completely oblivious to the dangers, as she skipped along, often as furniture would appear beneath her feet.

Ravenclaw were the first house to be all out, with their final players being taken in the corridor outside of potions on the Thursday, with just five playable days left. Gryffindor were next, during a battle in the Great Hall, the entire remaining Slytherins sent a combined jinx at their table, capsizing it like the Titanic.

Most professors were out at this point. Professor McGonagall remained in play by using her Animagus form, but other professors were not so lucky. Snape managed to last so long by keeping to his classroom for long periods of time but in the same event that sent the Gryffindors under, Fred and George had sent a similar spell at his chair, binding him to it and knocking it into the lava. They high-fived as they went under with the rest of their house.

With so few players left in, the castle began targeting those classes and students specifically. One pair of Hufflepuff Seventh years were caught out while trying to have a date in the Room of Requirement while several Slytherins went down in their own common room after a Polyjuiced opponent snuck in and vanished the furniture on the Saturday evening from under them all.

Monday 6pm was the cut off for the game, and as the time approached, the remaining players became ever more cautious, few barely daring to leave the safety of their armchairs in their common rooms for all of Sunday.

As the school bell struck 6 on Monday, students filed into the Great Hall for the farewell feast and the results. Everyone had returned to normal so there was no telling by looking at the tables, but as Professor Dumbledore gave his farewell speech, the house points began filling in behind him. Ernie MacMillan noticed it first and nudged those around him. Soon everyone in the hall watched as Hufflepuff’s points went up and up, overtaking Gryffindor. They were neck and neck with Slytherin as the final points began falling in. Nobody was paying attention to the Headmaster at this point.

Suddenly, the entire Hufflepuff table erupted into cheers as students celebrated their win in the game. They overtook Slytherin by 25 points, just 5 students had tipped the scale in their favour. After allowing them to celebrate, Professor Dumbledore congratulated them before completing his speech and announcing that they had won the house cup that year. Behind him, Professor Sprout beamed with pride at her students as she went to the front to shake the Headmaster’s hand as the banners flanking the hall shifted from scarlet and gold to yellow and black and the Fat Friar flew over his house table, waving his arms in victory.

Once the room settled, Professor Dumbledore addressed them for the final time that year. “Congratulations once again to our victors, and well done, to the brilliant minds who brought this game to us. In honour of its brilliance, I suspect, we shall repeat this at least, once again.” The hall hummed excitedly as he waved his arms to summon the food for the feast.

Over on the Gryffindor table, Fred had his arm around Hermione as he and George shared their secret handshake across the table. “Well done you two,” she said, pecking his cheek. “It was quite a lot of fun,” she admitted.

“Thanks, but it is us, who should thank you,” George told her over the table.

“Yeah, you did inspire this, after all,” Fred replied, kissing her cheek in return. “You inspire a lot of our projects,” he added teasingly.

“Something tells me I don’t want to ask about that,” she told him.

“Probably wise,” George answered.

“It’s not like we could tell you anyway,” Fred teased her. Suddenly an owl swooped low over the Gryffindor table, dropping something between the twins before flying off.

The twins unwrapped the slim parcel to find a piece of blank parchment and a note.

 _Moony told me you passed on the original map, decided I couldn’t let such brilliant pranksters get by without the aide to our own genius. Here’s something I put together._  
Yours,  
Padfoot

George read the note and showed it to Fred, Hermione reading with him. The twins shared a look before looking up at the teachers’ table. Professor Lupin caught their eye and raised his goblet to them, smiling with a discrete nod of approval. Grinning back, they raised theirs, and Fred pocketed it, safely away from prying eyes, knowing that next year was going to be good indeed.


End file.
